A review by maxwellsage
The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin

2.75

The first section was the strongest, plotting high stakes and bracing the reader for a roller-coaster thriller with the same level of mystery and surprise as Levin’s A Kiss Before Dying. After the halfway point of the novel the stakes are lost when the Nazi assassins are called back home, abandoning the mission. The stakes of the story leave with them. All who is left are two compelling characters- protagonist Lieberman and antagonist Mengele, but you can pretty much guess where the plot will go. Was hoping for a persistent level of tension and excitement that was present in the first half of the novel, but unfortunately The Boys From Brazil lost its thrill. (That said, Levin’s writing style is constantly easy to comprehend whilst highly descriptive, and sounds elegant and intelligent to keep the reader interested).